18/1/25 - Beans, Plastic, A Brew and Fencing
Good day to you, and thanks for dropping by to catch up with the latest allotment diaries from Allotment Madness. It's been a funny old week, rounded off with a very productive few hours on the plot this afternoon. The title for this entry kind of sums some things up nicely, but there's a bunch more to get stuck into.
Weekly Temps
This week, the weather has been OK, pretty dry and only a light frost on one night, but inside the tunnel it's got particularly warm at some point, with a maximum of 37.8 degrees!
Waste Not Want Not
Away from the allotment this week, my workplace has been busy emptying our stores, and there has been loads of things up for grabs for employees to help themselves to. Back in the bad days of covid as people were returning to work, temporary acrylic screens were put up on everyone's desks in an effort to shield people from the spread of the virus. As we moved on, the screens were taken down and ever since, all the plastic parts ended up on a pallet in stores. So when I learned that they were due to end up in the skip, I stepped in and rescued them. Where some people were seeing covid screens, an allotmenteer sees cold frames, replacements for greenhouse glass and carrot protection. I put the word out on the WhatsApp group for the society, and now a majority of it is now being repurposed instead of ending up in landfill. Win win!
Tool Making
As we come into sowing season, there are a ton of YouTube videos coming out on how people prepare for and sow their early season seeds in various pots, cells and trays. This week, I've been busy making some compost tamping tools to help push compost down into seed trays and various cells trays that I have. Nothing more complicated than some ply that I had laying about, cut to size and some other bits of shaped wood to match the cells sizes. Anything that makes a job a bit easier, and for no money!
Home Growing Update
For a couple of weeks, we've had things on the windows sill, sitting on the Super 7 propagator. The first trays of onions that were sown a few weeks ago have been doing well, although I'm not sure if germination has been as good as it could have been. Still, those that have germinated have come on well. Plus, I have another tray or two of Ailsa Craig seeds sown, but they haven't germinated yet.
As yet, there's no signs of germination on the Black Beauty aubergines either, but they've only been in place a week.
The big surprise on the sowing front this week though has been the Red Cherry tomatoes. Considering they were only sown a week or so ago, they've germinated and shot up. They're even getting quite leggy. Hopefully they'll start putting more effort into leave growth soon so I can pot them on and help them develop further.
Saturday Allotment Shift
And so we turn to the Saturday afternoon shift on the plot itself. Given the time of year, there's a surprising amount to get on with. To kick things off, I took the broad bean plants from the windowsill at home, and potted them on into their own pots. As a reminder, these are Aqua Dulce beans which I've sown as 'back-up' beans to replace a few that haven't quite made it in the ground outside. Sowing them indoors has allowed them to develop pretty quick and they have now almost caught up with their direct down counterparts. Another couple of weeks in the light of the polytunnel, and they should be ready to go into the ground with the rest of them.
Back in the tunnel, and keeping an eye on things that are happening in there. Last week, the sweet peas were sown, but as yet, there's no signs of germination, but the cut and come again salad tray has just about started to show signs of germination. I don't know how it will fair, but with no frost in the forecast for the foreseeable future, hopefully it will continue to grow and develop.
After the brew, and stepping out from the tunnel, I looked at the hooped tunnel. Over the previous 2 weekends, I've been preparing the hooped tunnel for some direct planting, after leaving it covered with membrane and growing in quad grows for the last season. I haven't planned anything specific to grow in there, so I transplanted some of the cauliflower and broccoli plants that have been sitting in pots for some time. I'm not expecting anything to come of them, but at least I can give them some sort of chance at developing.
As well as looking after the newly sown crops, potting on and planting out, I also completed this seasons harvest of parsnips. They have been a success for us once again, but I think I could have probably started harvesting them slightly earlier than I did. Not many remained in the ground and I needed to lift a couple for Sunday dinner, so it was out with fork. A few came up, but there were obvious signs that some were beginning to succumb to rot so I decided to clear the remainder of the bed and leave it ready for the forthcoming season.
The last job for the day was something that I have been waiting to get done since last Autumn. I acquired a section of Heras fencing, typically found temporarily erected around building sites, or festival sites. The panel itself is pretty big, and actually, if I had even more room on the plot, a couple of them leant together to for a large walk through A-Frame would be brilliant for all sorts of climbing crops. I don't have that sort of room, but broken down, it produces for long metal poles and a large amount of welded mesh. The poles themselves are useful either in the polytunnel as crop bars, or on the beds as plant supports. Once of my ideas involving the mesh is for the cucumber plants, or the squash plants to climb on. Before any of that is possible though, I had to cut out the mesh, and cut the frame down into 4 poles. On a chilly day, it was a great job to be able to get stuck into armed with the saw and some rebar to give some leverage in pulling off the mesh.
There's plenty left to do with all those bits, but that wrapped up the day's effort on the plot. There may be another visit with a little bit more sowing tomorrow, but we will have to wait and see if that comes about!
Until next time, thanks for ready and happy growing!
